Abercrombie Meeting 2017

Abercrombie Meeting 2017

Scientific Organisers: Prof Maddy Parsons, Prof Guillaume Charras, Prof Kurt Anderson

The series of Abercrombie meetings have been held since the death of Michael Abercrombie in 1979. Michael was a pioneer in the field of investigating cell behaviour using timelapse microscopy. Abercrombie meetings are held only every five years and therefore offer an excellent opportunity to review the major advances in our understanding of cell motility and look to the new emerging concepts in the field.

The 8th Abercrombie meeting was held from 11-14 September 2017 in Oxford and addressed the key, exciting new findings and emerging approaches in the study of cell migration across a range of biological contexts, both in vitro and in vivo. As well as providing an excellent platform for open and constructive discussions between researchers from world-leading labs


Scientific Organiser 

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    Professor Maddy Parsons

    RMS Honorary Secretary Biological Science

    King's College London
    Maddy is Professor of Cell Biology at King’s College London. Maddy completed her PhD in Biochemistry within the Department of Medicine at University College London in 2000. During her PhD she analysed the role of mechanical forces in dermal scarring. She then moved to Cancer Research UK laboratories in London for a 4-year postdoctoral position where she used advanced microscopy techniques including FRET/FLIM to dissect adhesion receptor signaling to the actin cytoskeleton and how this controlled directed cell invasion. Based on these achievements, Maddy was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 2005 to establish her own group within the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King’s College London.

    Following completion of her fellowship, Maddy was appointed Reader at King’s in 2013 and Professor of Cell Biology in 2015. Maddy has established collaborations with developmental biologists and clinical researchers to study adhesion receptor signalling in skin blistering, wound healing, inflammation and cancer. She works closely with physicists, biophysicists and other world-leading cell migration groups in the field to develop and apply new imaging technologies to dissect spatiotemporal cytoskeletal signalling events in live cells, tissues and whole organisms. As a result of her interest and applications of advanced microscopy, Maddy developed a strong working partnership with Nikon, which subsequently led to the establishment of the state-of-the-art, world-class Nikon Imaging Centre at King’s College London of which she is Director. Maddy also currently works alongside other biotech and pharmaceutical companies to develop and apply advanced imaging approaches to basic mechanisms that underpin drug discovery. 

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    Dr Kurt Anderson

    The Francis Crick Institute
    Kurt is a cell biologist who uses advanced imaging methods to study cell migration. He completed his PhD at the University of Salzburg in 1997 on the actin-based mechanism of fish keratocyte migration. He then spent 2 years as a post-doc at the Marie Curie Cancer Research Institute (UK) before moving to Dresden in 2001 to set up the light microscopy facility at the new MPI-CBG. In 2005 he moved to the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, where he runs the Beatson Advanced Imaging Resource (BAIR) and a research group investigating tumor cell migration. His work at the Beatson used imaging methods such as FRAP and FRET to study the molecular dynamics of cell adhesion and migration in vitro and in vivo. In 2016 Kurt moved to the Francis Crick Institute, where he is now Head of the Crick Advanced Light Microscopy Facility (CALM)

  • Dr Guillaume Charras

Invited Speakers 

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    Dr Christoph Ballestrem

    University of Manchester, UK
    Christoph BALLESTREM graduated from the University of Constance (Germany) with a degree in Biology in 1996. In 2000, he obtained his PhD at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) where he studied adhesion receptor and cytoskeletal dynamics and their role in cell motility. After post-doctoral training at the Weizmann Institute of Science (2001-2004; Rehovot, Israel) in the laboratories of Profs Benny Geiger and Alexander Bershadsky, where he applied advanced imaging techniques to study the cells’ adhesion machinery, Christoph started his independent Career as a research fellow in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Manchester and leads one of 20 laboratories in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell-Matrix Research, who’s aim is to shed light on how cell interactions with their environment controls tissue formation and function.
    The focus of Christoph’s research is to understand how cells sense the extracellular matrix. Of particular interest are the molecular mechanisms at the interface between cell-matrix adhesion receptors (integrins) and the actin cytoskeleton that regulate the transmission of biochemical and mechanical stimuli. The main technique Christoph uses for his investigations is advanced fluorescence microscopy including FRET, FRAP & photoactivation. Since 2008 Christoph heads the Bioimaging facility at the University of Manchester.

  • Dr John Condeelis

    Einstein University, USA
    John Condeelis is The Judith and Burton P. Resnick Chair in Translational Research, Professor and Co-Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM). He is the director of the Cancer Center program “Tumor microenvironment and Metastasis” and co-Director of the Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center of AECOM, a center dedicated to the development and application of optical imaging technologies. He is co-Director of the Integrated Imaging Program which is dedicated to the translation of methods using combined imaging modalities into clinically useful prognostics and treatment endpoints.

    His research interests are in optical physics, cell biology and biophysics, cancer biology and mouse models of cancer. He and his collaborators developed the multiphoton imaging technology and animal models used to identify invasion and intravasation microenvironments in mammary tumors. This led to the discovery of the paracrine interaction between tumor cells and macrophages in vivo, and the role of macrophages in the migration of tumor cells and their dissemination from primary tumors via blood vessels to distant metastatic sites. Based on these results, cell collection techniques were developed for the collection of migrating and disseminating macrophages and tumor cells. This led to the discovery of the mouse and human invasion signatures.

    John Condeelis has devised uncaging, biosensor detection and multiphoton imaging technologies for these studies and has used novel caged-enzymes and biosensors to test, in vivo, the predictions of the invasion signatures regarding the mechanisms of tumor cell dissemination and metastasis. This work has supplied markers for the prediction of breast tumor metastasis in humans. Three of these markers, TMEM, MenaCalc and cofilin x p-cofilin, have been used in retrospective studies of cohorts of breast cancer patients to predict metastatic risk and are now in clinical validation trials. He has authored more than 300 scientific papers on various aspects of cell and cancer biology, biophysics and optical imaging. His current research remains on these topics.

  • Prof Gaudenz Danuser

    UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA

  • Dr Margaret Frame

    University of Edinburgh, UK

  • Prof Paul Garside

    University of Glasgow, UK

  • Dr Greg Giannone

    CNRS-Université Bordeaux Segalen, France

  • Dr Gregg Gundersen

    Columbia University, USA

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    Prof Carl-Phillip Heisenberg

    IST, Austria
    Carl-Philipp Heisenberg is a Professor at the IST Austria. His research focuses on the molecular, cellular and biophysical mechanisms underlying gastrulation movements in zebrafish. He is a member of EMBO and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He received his PhD from the MPI for Developmental Biology/University of Tübingen and his Diploma in Biology from the LMU Munich.

  • Prof Brent Hoffmann

    Duke University, USA

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    Dr Tony Kanchanawong

    NUS, Singapore
    Dr. Pakorn (Tony) Kanchanawong is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, and a Principal Investigator of the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI), Singapore. His doctoral training was with Prof. Steven G. Boxer in the Biophysics program at Stanford.  He was a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Clare M. Waterman at the National Institutes of Health, where he collaborated closely with Dr. Harald Hess at HHMI Janelia Research Campus on using iPALM 3D interferometric superresolution microscopy to visualize the molecular architecture of focal adhesions.  In 2011, he started his research group in Singapore as a recipient of the National Research Foundation Fellowship.  His research focuses on the development and application of superresolution microscopy and advanced imaging techniques to understand how cells built complex nanoscale machines from basic biomolecular building blocks to perform vital biological functions, with particular emphasis on cell adhesions and cytoskeletal systems important for mechanobiology, such as focal adhesions, adherens junctions, and the actin cortex.

     

  • Dr Ana-Maria Lennon-Dumenil

    Institut Curie, France
     

  • Dr Cristina Lo Celso

    Imperial College London, UK

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    Dr Angeliki Malliri

    University of Manchester, UK
    Angeliki Malliri graduated from Patras University, Greece in Biology. She then did her doctorate research with Prof. D. Spandidos at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, Greece looking at the relation of carcinogen exposure and the occurrence of p53 and Ras mutations in human tumours. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Crete Medical School. She then did a post-doc with Prof. B. Ozanne at the Beatson Insititute, Glasgow, UK. Her research included analysing resistance to TGF-beta, as well as investigating the role of AP-1 in invasion, which she linked to Rho molecules. Subsequently she did a post-doc at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam in the lab of Dr J. Collard where she was a recipient of a Marie Curie fellowship. There she continued her study of Rho molecules and invasion. Using knockout mice, she discovered that the Rac activator Tiam1 is required for tumourigenesis. Since 2004 she has her own group at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute in the UK where she continues to analyse the contribution of Rac activators and Rac to transformation and malignant progression.

  • Prof Celeste Nelson

    Princeton Unveirsity, USA

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    Prof Sussan Nourshaugh

    QMUL, UK
    Sussan Nourshargh is a pharmacologist who studied at University College London (BSc) and King’s College London (PhD) and became Professor of Immunopharmacology at Imperial College London in 2006. In 2007 she joined Barts and The London Medical School, Queen Mary, University of London, UK, to establish and head a new Centre focusing on Microvascular Research. Her research focuses on unravelling the molecular and cellular events involved in leukocyte trafficking and through the application of high resolution in vivo imaging modalities she has made seminal contributions to the field of leukocyte transmigration for which her group is internationally respected. Sussan Nourshargh is a Wellcome Trust Investigator and Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and British Pharmacological Society. She has acted as committee member for numerous national and international funding bodies, societies and scientific advisory boards and is currently member of the Board of the British Heart Foundation

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    Dr Patrick Oakes

    University or Rochester, UK
    Patrick Oakes obtained his PhD in Physics at Brown University where he studied the liquid crystalline phase transition of actin gels. He then moved to the University of Chicago for a postdoc focusing on cellular force generation and cytoskeletal dynamics. He joined the University of Rochester in 2016 where his group uses quantitative imaging coupled with mechanical modeling to investigate the interplay between cell shape, cytoskeletal architecture and mechanical interactions with the extracellular environment.

  • Prof Jeff Pollard

    University of Edinburgh, UK

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    Dr Cynthia Reinhart-King

    Cornell University, USA
    Cynthia Reinhart-King is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University.  Prior to joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2017, she was on the faculty of Cornell University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering from 2008-2016. She obtained undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and biology at MIT and her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Bioengineering as a Whitaker Fellow. She then completed postdoctoral training as an Individual NIH NRSA postdoctoral fellow in the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Rochester.  Dr. Reinhart-King’s current research interests are in the areas of cell mechanics and cell migration specifically in the context of cancer and atherosclerosis.  Her lab uses a multidisciplinary approach, drawing from cell and molecular biology, biophysics, and biomechanics to quantitatively examine the mechanisms of tissue formation and disease progression. Her lab has received funding from the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Federation of Aging Research.  She has been awarded the Rita Schaffer Young Investigator Award from the Biomedical Engineering Society and an NSF CAREER Award. She has also received the 2010 Sonny Yau ‘72 Excellence in Teaching Award, the highest award for teaching in Cornell’s College of Engineering, a 2013 Cook Award for “contributions towards improving the climate for women at Cornell,” and the 2015 Zellman Warhaft Commitment to Diversity Award from the Cornell College of Engineering.  She is currently serving on the BMES Board of Directors and is an elected member of the 2016 Class of AIMBE Fellows.

     

  • Dr Pascal Silberzan

    Institut Curie, France

  • Dr Michael Sixt

    IST, Austria

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    Dr Brian Stramer

    King's College London, UK
    Brian is a group leader at the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King's College London. He received his Ph.D. in 2003 in Cell, Molecular and Developmental biology from Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and subsequently received a US/UK Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship to work in the laboratory of Paul Martin at the University of Bristol. In 2008, he obtained an independent group leader position at King's College London where he started his work on the basic mechanisms of cell migration and its roles during embryogenesis.

  • Dr Ken Yamada

    NIH, USA


Event details

Venue for the Meeting
The Abercrombie 2017 Meeting took place at St Catherine's College, Oxford. The full address is St Catherine's College, Manor Road, Oxford, OX1 3UJ. 

 


Sponsors

  • abercrombie-fund logo.jpg

    Abercrombie Fund

    We are grateful to the Abercrombie fund for generously supporting this meeting.

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    Andor Technology, an Oxford Instruments Company

    Andor Technology plc is a global leader in the pioneering and manufacturing high performance scientific imaging cameras, spectroscopy solutions and microscopy systems for research and OEM markets. Andor has been innovating the photonics industry for over 20 years and aims to continue to set the standard for high performance light measuring solutions that allow consumers to perform light measurements previously considered impossible. Through continuous dialogue with customers and strong teamwork, Andor continues to innovate ground-breaking products that improve the world in which we live.

    Find out more about Andor Technology
    www.andor.com

  • Journal-of-Cell-Science.jpg

    Journal of Cell Science

    Research and reviews that cover the complete range of topics in cell biology. Novel perspectives and approaches to understanding the field. Articles that challenge understanding and stimulate interest. Journal of Cell Science is all about new thinking and scientific excellence in cell biology.

    Find out more about Journal of Cell Science
    http://jcs.biologists.org

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    Gradientech AB

    Find out more about Gradientech AB
    www.gradientech.se

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    Hamamatsu Photonics

    Hamamatsu Photonics is a world-leading manufacturer of opto-electronic components and systems and employs over 3000 staff worldwide. The corporate headquarters are based in Hamamatsu City, Japan along with various manufacturing plants and central research laboratories. Since its inception in 1953, Hamamatsu Photonics has expanded to now enjoy a global presence throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

    Hamamatsu Photonics’ corporate philosophy stresses the advancement of Photonics through extensive research and development. Hundreds of new opto-electronic products are introduced to the market each year and many Hamamatsu products are regarded as state-of-the-art. Hamamatsu sources, detectors and imaging products are designed to cover the entire optical spectrum, from nuclear radiation, x-ray, Ultraviolet (UV), Visible and Infrared radiation. Hamamatsu devices provide solutions for a wide variety of applications including analytical, industrial and medical instrumentation.

    Find out more about Hamamatsu
    www.hamamatsu.com

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    Nikon UK Ltd

    Nikon Instruments is a leading manufacturer in light microscopy and metrology solutions. With over 100 years’ experience in optical design and a strong core technology group, Nikon has become a truly iconic brand for all types of imaging.

    Nikon’s philosophy is to meet needs and exceed expectations. We specialise in the development of optical products, building an unbeatable reputation for lens technology and precision optics. We pride ourselves on providing high contrast, high definition, and aberration free images.

    Find out more about Nikon UK Ltd
    www.nikon.co.uk and www.microscope.healthcare.nikon.com

  • Teledyne Photometrics - Website.jpg

    Teledyne Photometrics

    Founded as Photometrics in 1978, Teledyne Photometrics is part of the Teledyne Imaging Group. Teledyne Photometrics is the world’s premier designer and manufacturer of high-performance CMOS, EMCCD and CCD cameras for life science research. The original architect of the world’s first scientific-grade microscopy EMCCD camera and developer of the popular CoolSNAP CCD cameras, Teledyne Photometrics maintains its leadership role with the release of Prime, the first sCMOS camera with built-in computational intelligence for image restoration, and Prime 95B, the first sCMOS camera with 95% quantum efficiency. Teledyne Photometrics also offers comprehensive OEM support, including fully characterized, cost-efficient imaging systems and components. Teledyne Photometrics is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.

    Find out more about Teledyne Photometrics
    www.photometrics.com

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    The Company of Biologists